A world expert on road diets, Dan Burden begins this chapter of Moving Beyond the Automobile saying, "a road diet is anytime you take any lane out of a road". Of course the knee-jerk reaction is likely to be along the lines of, "How can removing lanes improve my neighbourhood and not cause traffic backups?" But in nearly every case, the opposite is true.

Every road user benefits when road diets go in.

"The Great Myth begins, as so many myths do, with an arduous journey - in this case, then-Lieutenant Colonel Dwight D. Eisenhower's 62-day cross-country trip with a military convoy along our nation's rutted roads during the summer of 1919. Conditions like those faced by Eisenhower were all too familiar to the small but growing number of drivers, who clamoured for public investment in better roads. But how to pay for them?

The biking boom, cycle trails, safety tips: Monday's One 2 One including news, advice and encouragement. Hear online Peter Shaw talk to a variety of guests about cycling. Also interviewed were:

Del Woodford from AvantiPlus

Kieran Turner Chief Executive of Bike NZ

Audio streaming on rhema.co.nz

Elizabeth from StreetFilms went to the 10th National Bike Summit in Washington DC with her camera, and the video below is the result. It's great to hear from so many people and organisations working hard to fix the transportation sector, a crucial piece of the puzzle if we are to move to a more sustainable society. It can't be done without some policy changes, so we need effective lobbying if cyclists are to get their fair share of infrastructure and legislative protection.

What is Sustrans' vision for getting around for local journeys that make up so much of our travelling life?  What would our communities look and feel like if we were able to double the number of local journeys being made in ways that benefit our health and the environment?

Seoul before and after

High quality public transit consists of service sufficiently convenient and comfortable to attract travel that would otherwise be by automobile. This report uses data from U.S. cities to investigate the incremental costs and benefits of high quality transit service. It indicates that high quality public transit typically requires about $268 in additional subsidies and $104 in additional fares annually per capita, but provides vehicle, parking and road cost savings averaging $1,040 per capita...